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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 15. The Negro in the Public Economy - 11. Work Relief - 12. Assistance to Youth
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Chapter 15. The Negro in the Public Economy 361
cent of the total labor forces on W.P.A. This means that Negroes had a
somewhat larger share in the work relief jobs than corresponded to their
representation among the unemployed workers j
for, according to the
Census of 1940, there were about 13 per cent nonwhites among all persons
who were without jobs and who were seeking work, or who were on
emergency workJ®
As usual, however, the situation was different in the North from what it
was in the South. Many Northern states had at least twice as high a pro-
portion of Negroes on the W.P.A. rolls as there was among the job seekers,
but in most of the Southern states Negroes were less well represented on
the work relief rolls than they were among the unemployed workers.^®
It was particularly in the rural areas of the Southern states that there
were relatively few Negroes among the W.P.A. workers. Virginia, exclu-
sive of Richmond and Norfolk, for example, had a lower proportion of
Negroes on the work relief rolls than there was in the total population. The
same was true about Louisiana, outside of New Orleans. A state like
Mississippi, of course, showed even worse conditions in this respect; in
counties where there was no city with as much as 10,OCX) population, only
18 per cent of the W.P.A. workers were Negroes, although they had about
as many Negroes as whites in the total population and, no doubt, had a pre-
ponderance of Negroes among all persons in need of unemployment relief.®®
Since wage differentials on W.P.A. are extremely pronounced, the ques-
tion of what job rating a person gets is important. The lowest wage that is
paid the lowest group of unskilled workers in Southern counties with no
city or town having as much as 5,000 population was—prior to a recent
insignificant raise—$31.20. The highest wage received by professional
and technical workers in Northern and Midwestern cities of 100,000 and
over was $94.90. Thus, there is social discrimination on the W.P.A., and
the consequence is, of course, that average wages for Negroes must be much
lower than those paid to white workers. Even the lowest wage rate, how-
ever, is higher than that which many Negro workers can receive in private
employment.
12. Assistance to Youth
The New Deal has instituted some significant programs for youth. On
the one hand, there are the various activities administered by the National
Youth Administration. On the other hand, there was the Civilian Conserva-
tion Corps, which was abolished in June, 1942.®^
In the early days of the C.C.C. programs there were but 5 or 6 per cent
Negroes among the boys in the camps. From 1936 until 1941 the propor-
tion varied between 9 and 1
1
per cent. This means that, after 1936, Negroes
shared in the benefits of the program in proportion to their numbers in the
population, but that no allowance was made for the much greater need«
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